Appiah, who was also involved in establishing the after-school program, says the program also "tests the hypothesis that the right content will bring minority kids to the web."

The curriculum was designed by Aaron Meyers '98 and is structured around the Africana website and encyclopedia.

So far, the program seems to be working.

"The response from children and parents has been overwhelming," Rivers says. "We have a waiting list of 30 kids for the weekends."

Rivers adds that he has been approached by churches in eight other cities across the country interested in implementing similar after-school programs.

If the program makes the grade in end-of-the-year evaluations set up by the Markle Foundation, which sponsors the program along with the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for Afro-American Studies, it will expand nationwide.

While the new after-school program signals an emphasis on intellectual and cultural literacy for Dorchester youth, it may also mark the start of a more collaborative relationship between Gates and Rivers.

"My sense is, in retrospect, that one cannot do all things at all times. Things need to move sequentially," Rivers says. "Skip's role at Harvard in leading the [W.E.B. Du Bois] Instutite and the [Afro-American Studies] Department, and now this, is what I'd call a reasonable progression."